Rail fastener

ABSTRACT

A rail fastener includes a spring clip having a longitudinal section with one end applying downward pressure upon a rail base as the opposite end, formed with a vertical pivot arm, bears downwardly toward a crosstie. Deflection of the control portion of the longitudinal section is achieved upon the insertion of a transverse pin through spaced apart sidewalls of an anchor member underlying and adjacent the lateral edges of the spring clip.

United States Patent 1191 Ruble 51 June 3, 1975 I RAIL FASTENER [75] Inventor: Emerson J. Ruble, Hinsdale, Ill,

[73] Assignee: Portec, Inc., Oak Brook, Ill.

[22] Filed: June 13, 1974 [21] App]. No.: 479,127

[52] US. Cl 238/349; 238/354 [51] Int. Cl. E0lb 9/48 [58] Field of Search 238/349, 322, 341, 353, 238/283, 354

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,457,704 6/1923 Kenney et a1 238/354 2,648,500 8/1953 Vickroy l l 238/349 3,515.34? 6/1970 Waters et al.... 238/349 3,784,098 [/1974 Serafin et al.... 238/349 R22,776 8/1946 Scholes 238/349 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,031,773 3/1953 France 238/349 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood. Jr. Assistant ExaminerRichard A. Bertsch Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Emory L. Groff, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT A rail fastener includes a spring clip having a longitudinal section with one end applying downward pressure upon a rail base as the opposite end, formed with a vertical pivot arm, bears downwardly toward a crosstie. Deflection of the control portion of the longitudinal section is achieved upon the insertion of a transverse pin through spaced apart sidewalls of an anchor member underlying and adjacent the lateral edges of the spring clip.

12 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures FIG.

FIG

1 RAIL FASTENER This invention relates generally to railway devices, and more particularly, to an improved rail fastener including an anchor member fixedly attached to a crosstie and provided with means cooperating with a removable spring clip to position and retain the clip in a deflected stressed condition with one end thereof bearing upon the upper surface of a rail base flange.

Numerous types of rail clips have been devised in the past for the purpose of restricting longitudinal displacement or creeping of a rail during passage of traffic thereover, and it has been known to combine with the rail clip and its anchoring member means for additionally maintaining the gage of the rail. By the present invention an improved spring clip rail fastener is proposed comprising an L-shaped spring clip having a pivot section directed toward the upper surface of the crosstie on the one end and a rail base engaging section on the other end. The spring clip is retained in working position by means of a unique anchor member having insertable means for downwardly deflecting the central body section of the spring clip such that an extremely high degree of pressure is exerted by the under surface of the rail engaging section upon the upper surface of the rail base flange.

An example of an earlier attempt to provide a spring clip rail fastener seeking some of the same objectives as the present invention will be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,998,043 issued Apr. 16, 1935, to Boyd et al. and which proposes an anchor member comprising a vertically extending lug having a transverse opening therethrough and about which a plurality of apertured spring clips are straddled prior to the insertion of a wedge through the lug which is provided with distal portions intended to downwardly deflect the two sides of the spring clip. Such an arrangement falls far short of achieving the stability and holding force of the present invention, particularly since the referenced earlier spring clips are extremely weak in view of the large opening required therein to straddle the lug, with the result that only the relatively narrow side edges of the spring clips are engaged and deflected by the ends of the wedge as opposed to the instant arrangement wherein the entire width of an imperforate spring clip is deflected by the shank of a cross pin.

Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved rail fastener including an anchor member fixedly secured to a crosstie and containing a longitudinal spring clip therein having its medial portion deflected downwardly by means of a removable cross pin.

A further object ofthe present invention is to provide an improved rail fastener including an anchor member secured to a crosstie and provided with a pair of upwardly extending sidewalls connected by a top bridge with a removable cross pin insertable between said sidewalls and bearing against the under surface of the bridge on the one hand and serving to downwardly deflect a spring clip insertable between said sidewalls beneath said pin.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved rail fastener including an anchor member fixedly attached to the crosstie and containing a removable spring clip maintained in a downwardly deflected condition by means of a removable transversely disposed pin and a gage block insertable between said anchor member and a rail base flange and upon which one end of the spring clip bears.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved rail fastener including an anchor member having a pair of spaced apart vertical sidewalls between which is disposed an L-shaped spring clip having a rail engaging section on the one end and a vertical pivotal section on the other end directed downwardly toward the upper surface of the crosstie.

With these and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

Preferred and practical embodiments of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a partial top plan view, partly in section, of a rail fastener according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, ofa modification of the rail fastener as shown in FIG. 2.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, the rail fastener of the present invention will be understood to comprise a spring clip, generally designated 1, operating in combination with an anchor member 2, to inhibit the longitu dinal creeping of a rail R as disposed upon the upper surface 3 of a crosstie T. Although the invention is especially adaptable for use with concrete crossties as shown in the drawings, it will be appreciated that when modified, as discussed hereinafter, the same basic components may be employed in combination with wood or synthetic plastic crossties. Regardless of the type of crosstie used with the present rail fastener, the anchor member 2 must be thoroughly secured relative the upper surface 3 of the crosstie and in the case of a concrete crosstie, this is most readily achieved by forming the anchor member with an integral stem 4 during casting thereof. The stem is then placed in the concrete of the tie during the casting of the crosstie. The exact construction of the stem is immaterial as it may include any of various forms of projections 4, such as grooves or serrations, or it may be otherwise irregularly configured to enhance its retention within the crosstie following its casting.

The anchor member 2 comprises a substantially planar base 5 flushly disposed upon the upper surface 3 of the crosstie and from which the stem 4 depends. Extending upwardly from the two opposite sides of the base 5 are a pair of vertical sidewalls 6-6 the limits of which are disposed in a plane well above the base of the rail. The spaced apart sidewalls 6-6 define a channel 8 therebetween which is bounded at its top by means of a transverse bridge 9 having inclined sides l0l0 shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3. The two sidewalls 6 are provided with aligned openings 1 1, the upper portion of the circumference of which is contiguous with the arcuate bridge undersurface 12 such that the bottom of the bridge 9 serves as a curved bearing surface continuously extending from one side wall opening 11 to the other side wall opening 11, and the function of which will become obvious hereinafter. Preferably, the

included angle formed by the two bridge sides -10 is no less than 30.

Cooperating with the above described anchor member 2 is the spring clip 1 comprising a unitary metal member preferably L-shaped to provide a vertical pivot arm or tie section 13 at one end, an intermediate central body section 14 and a rail engaging section 15 at the other end.

It will be understood that the rail fastener of the present invention is intended to be used in pairs, that is, one such assembly on opposite sides of a rail R and cooperating with the two oppositely disposed rail base flanges 16. In this regard, the anchor members 2 would be initially secured to the crosstie T such that the opposed inner edges 17 of each pair of spaced apart anchor members 2 would be spaced from one another a distance sufficient to accommodate rails of different weights intended to be used with the invention. With a rail R positioned between a pair of spaced apart anchor members 2, the exact gage thereof may be positively achieved and maintained by means of a gage block 18 having a vertical edge flange 19 insertable between the rail base edge and the inner edge 17 of each anchor member 2 with a top arm 20 of the gage block overlying the upper surface 21 of the rail base flange 16. A more positive retention of the gage block 15 may be ensured by providing a notch 22 within the inner edge 17 of the anchor member as shown most clearly in FIG. 1 whereupon any longitudinal shifting of the gage block will be precluded.

Proper orientation of the spring clip 1 prior to its deflection and subsequent retention thereof is facilitated by means of bearing means comprising a transversely disposed bearing groove 23 formed in the upper surface of the anchor member base 5 and into which the rounded tip 24 of the clip pivot arm section 13 is disposed. When thusly positioned, the upwardly curved tip 25 forming the distal portion of the rail section 15 of the spring clip is properly located relative the upper surface 21 of the rail flange and more specifically the upper surface of the top arm 20 of the gage block 18. A close fit is provided by the proximity of the parallel lateral edges la of the clip to the parallel lateral limits of the channel 8 as defined by the anchor member side walls 6-6. Installation is completed by the insertion of the cross pin 26 through the two openings 11-11 provided in the anchor member sidewalls 6-6, which action causes the shank 27 of the cross pin to downwardly displace or deflect the central body section 14 of the spring clip, resulting in a significant vertical pressure being applied downwardly upon the gage block and rail base flange 16 along the pressure contact line 15a of the clip 1.

The foregoing operation is relatively simple and requires no special tools or appliances to accomplish. The cross pin 26 is inserted merely by striking its head 27' with a maul thereby driving the feed end 28 thereof through a first one of the openings 11 and while the top of the pin bears against and is guided in a straight line by the curved bridge undersurface 12, continuing to drive the pin over the top surface of the spring central body section 14 to progressively downwardly depress this area of the spring clip as the feed end 28 is driven thereover and subsequently through the second one of the openings 11. A chamfer 29 formed adjacent the feed end 28 of the cross pin provides a camming action assisting in the initial deflection of the spring clip and the subsequent passage of the feed end through the second one of the openings 11. Additionally, a slight taper may be provided adjacent the chamfer to facilitate the assembly.

Many rail installations specify an electrically insulated assembly. FIG. 2 of the drawings most clearly illustrates additional structure providing an insulated arrangement. A tie bearing pad 30 of suitable insulating material may be provided intermediate the rail base flange and the upper section of the crosstie while at the same time a suitable insulating layer 31 may be applied as a coating to the undersurface of the gage block top arm 20 and edge flange 19 such that the rail R is totally electrically isolated from both the crosstie and the rail fastener of the present invention.

FIG. 4 of the drawing shows an embodiment wherein the same concept as described above is employed but wherein a longer spring clip 1' is utilized, an arrangement which has been found to provide improved holding power in certain installations. The rail section 15 and pivot arm section 13 are both substantially longer than the corresponding portions of the previously described spring clip 1. Unlike the clip I wherein the cross pin 26 engages the central body section 14 substantially medially of the longitudinal upper portion of the clip, it has been found that in the embodiment of FIG. 4, an improved device is achieved by providing the pivot section 13' longer than the rail section 15'. In the first described embodiment, a suitable spring clip 1 may define an overall length of four inches from the contact line 15a to the vertical axis passing through the tip 24 and with the cross pin 26 deflecting the intermediate central body section at substantially the medial point of the clip, while in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 a suitable spring clip 1 includes an overall length of approximately seven inches with the cross pin 26 engaging a central body section 14' at a point which is three inches from the pressure contact line 15a and thus 4 inches from the vertical axis of the tip 24.

In order to conserve material and expense in the formation of the anchor member 2', it is not necessary to extend the base 5' thereof outwardly to provide integral bearing means for the tip 24 of the pivot arm section 13' and instead, a separate bearing member 32 may be imbedded or cast in situ within the crosstie T and further interlocked therewith by the inclusion of a suitable stem 33 depending therefrom. Inasmuch as the anchor member 2' deflects the spring clip 1' at a point from the rail which is greater than in the first described embodiment it is necessary to provide an inner base extension 5" in order to present the notch 22 therein at a point adjacent the edge of the rail base flange 16 so that the gage block 18 may cooperate therewith to define the specified gage.

I claim:

1. A rail fastener for securing a rail base flange upon a crosstie, including, an anchor member fixed upon the upper surface of said crosstie adjacent the edge of said rail base flange, said anchor member provided with a pair of upstanding sidewalls, a longitudinally extending spring clip disposed between said sidewalls and having a rail section at one end overlying said rail base flange and a pivot arm section at the other end downwardly directed toward said crosstie upper surface, a cross pin overlying said clip and engaging said sidewalls to downwardly deflect said clip in an area intermediate said rail section and pivot arm section, a bridge spanning the upper portion of said anchor member sidewalls and said bridge having a bottom bearing surface against which the upper portion of said cross pin abuts.

2. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein, said spring clip is L-shaped.

3. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein, said anchor member sidewalls are provided with horizontally aligned openings and said cross pin includes a shank having a close mating fit with said openings.

4. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein, said spring clip rail section terminates in an upwardly curved tip.

5. A rail fastener according to claim 1 including, bearing means on said anchor member engaging the distal portion of said clip pivot arm section.

6. A rail fastener according to claim 5 wherein, said bearing means includes an upwardly facing transverse groove and the distal portion of said clip pivot arm section is provided with a rounded tip.

7. A rail fastener according to claim 1 including, a gage block intermediate said anchor member and rail base flange.

8. A rail fastener according to claim 7 including, an insulating pad between said rail base flange and said crosstie, and an insulating coating on the undersurface of said gage block.

9. A rail fastener according to claim 1 including, separate bearing means remote from said anchor member and fixed to said crosstie and the distal portion of said clip pivot arm section engaging said bearing means.

10. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein said cross pin overlies said spring clip substantially medially of its overall length.

11. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein said clip pivot arm section is substantially longer than said clip rail section.

12. A rail fastener for securing a rail base flange upon a crosstie, including, an anchor member fixed upon the upper surface of said crosstie adjacent the edge of said rail base flange, said anchor member provided with a pair of upstanding sidewalls, a longitudinally extending spring clip disposed between said sidewalls and having a rail section at one end overlying said rail base flange and a pivot arm section at the other end downwardly directed toward said crosstie upper surface, a cross pin overlying said clip and engaging said sidewalls to downwardly deflect said clip in an area intermediate said rail section and pivot arm section, said anchor member provided with a notch juxtaposed said rail base flange and a gage block disposed intermediate said anchor member and rail base flange and engaged within said notch. 

1. A rail fastener for securing a rail base flange upon a crosstie, including, an anchor member fixed upon the upper surface of said crosstie adjacent the edge of said rail base flange, said anchor member provided with a pair of upstanding sidewalls, a longitudinally extending spring clip disposed between said sidewalls and having a rail section at one end overlying said rail base flange and a pivot arm section at the other end downwardly directed toward said crosstie upper surface, a cross pin overlying said clip and engaging said sidewalls to downwardly deflect said clip in an area intermediate said rail section and pivot arm section, a bridge spanning the upper portion of said anchor member sidewalls and said bridge having a bottom bearing surface against which the upper portion of said cross pin abuts.
 1. A rail fastener for securing a rail base flange upon a crosstie, including, an anchor member fixed upon the upper surface of said crosstie adjacent the edge of said rail base flange, said anchor member provided with a pair of upstanding sidewalls, a longitudinally extending spring clip disposed between said sidewalls and having a rail section at one end overlying said rail base flange and a pivot arm section at the other end downwardly directed toward said crosstie upper surface, a cross pin overlying said clip and engaging said sidewalls to downwardly deflect said clip in an area intermediate said rail section and pivot arm section, a bridge spanning the upper portion of said anchor member sidewalls and said bridge having a bottom bearing surface against which the upper portion of said cross pin abuts.
 2. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein, said spring clip is L-shaped.
 3. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein, said anchor member sidewalls are provided with horizontally aligned openings and said cross pin includes a shank having a close mating fit with said openings.
 4. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein, said spring clip rail section terminates in an upwardly curved tip.
 5. A rail fastener according to claim 1 including, bearing means on said anchor member engaging the distal portion of said clip pivot arm section.
 6. A rail fastener according to claim 5 wherein, said bearing means includes an upwardly facing transverse groove and the distal portion of said clip pivot arm section is provided with a rounded tip.
 7. A rail fastener according to cLaim 1 including, a gage block intermediate said anchor member and rail base flange.
 8. A rail fastener according to claim 7 including, an insulating pad between said rail base flange and said crosstie, and an insulating coating on the undersurface of said gage block.
 9. A rail fastener according to claim 1 including, separate bearing means remote from said anchor member and fixed to said crosstie and the distal portion of said clip pivot arm section engaging said bearing means.
 10. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein said cross pin overlies said spring clip substantially medially of its overall length.
 11. A rail fastener according to claim 1 wherein said clip pivot arm section is substantially longer than said clip rail section. 